


The King and The Boy

by telera



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Dark, Gen, Morality, Sweet, references to cannibalism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-02
Updated: 2013-10-02
Packaged: 2017-12-28 05:23:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/988197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/telera/pseuds/telera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><a href="http://hannibalkink.dreamwidth.org/3166.html?thread=5812574#cmt5812574">For a prompt at the kinkmeme</a> requesting "[...]  I want Hannibal as a good{ish} king in a faerie tale, and Will being his heir. Hints of Fair Folk morality are appreciated".</p>
            </blockquote>





	The King and The Boy

Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled in a small, distant kingdom. The king was good and wise, and all his subjects respected his fair laws and royal edicts. The king liked hunting and he was an expert in falconry, but he was especially known for his love for children. He was kind and generous to them, and some said he used to wander the villages of his kingdom at nights, making sure that all the children had obeyed their parents and had gone to bed early.

 

The old folk of the kingdom said that when king Hannibal was a boy, he had a little sister who was abducted from her bed and eaten by an ogre. Hannibal spent a long time trying to find the ogre's den, but when he finally did he couldn't enter because it was protected by a magic circle.

 

The boy then sought the help of the Three Birch Witches, who promised to help him in exchange of something very dear to him. Hannibal knew the price would be high, but he accepted the deal. The witches then gave him a charred log that was feeding the flames of their cauldron, and which Hannibal used to enter the ogre's lair and put out his many eyes.

 

When the ogre died, Hannibal cut off his head and brought his teeth to the witches, who made a collar out of them for protection. Since the boy had been generous, they decided to let him live, but warned him that he would never find a wife, nor would he ever have any children.

 

Hannibal thought the deal was fair, but as he came of age and became king, he realized the extent of the witches' cruelty. They had allowed him his revenge, but he was forever doomed to never feel the love of a child of his own. That's why the king was so fond of the children of his subjects, the old  folk said, and that's why he never allowed any harm to come to them.

 

Every now and then, though, a drunken father or a bitter mother slapped their kids hard, or forced them to collect wood in the forest for days on end. Nobody knew what became of these parents, but they mysteriously disappeared from their houses never to be seen again. The villagers whispered nervously among them, and since no corpse was ever found, they believed it was the Lady of a nearby enchanted lake, who needed new servants for her underwater court.

 

Only a very old woman who lived in a black stone house, and who claimed to have been the king's nursemaid, shook her head whenever a parent went missing, and sang:

 

'Feasty little feast

You put the life in your belly and you live'.

 

Nobody paid attention to her, though, not even when it was the custom of the king to offer a banquet to his subjects after the disappearances. Everybody was invited to the castle, and villagers young and old revelled and celebrated a feast for three days and three nights.

 

\---

 

It happened, then, that as the king visited one of the villages of the kindgom in his carriage, he saw a group of kids throwing stones to a little boy. Hannibal told the coachman to stop at once, and he approached the children in his majestic black coat.

 

'How dare you?' he asked taking a stone in his hand and crushing it to dust.

 

The kids ran scared to their houses, and the king knelt to help the boy, whose face was bruised and bloodied.

 

'What's your name, little one?' he asked.

 

'Will, sir' the boy replied. He was very pale and had dark, curly hair. His clothes were ragged and full of holes, and he wore no shoes.

 

'Why were those kids hurting you?'

 

'They say...' the boy sniffled 'They say I'm half-wolf'.

 

Hannibal frowned.

 

'And why would they say such a thing?'

 

'Because my parents were killed by wolves a year ago'.

 

The king clenched his jaw in anger.

 

'And who has been taking care of you all this time?'

 

Will shrugged and didn't answer.

 

'Come' he said taking his hand.

 

Once the boy was safe in his carriage, the king demanded to speak with the mayor of the village, a sturdy, bald man who crossed himself in fear.

 

'M-my king' he stuttered 'Please forgive our children. They... they mean no harm, it's just that... Little Will is... Well, his parents were killed by feral wolves last year... God rest their souls... And since then, little Will... He was always, hum, _different_ and... He started to talk to the trees and... to the farm animals and... He says he can speak to the spirits of the forest and--'

 

'Who has been taking care of the child?' the king asked, and his voice rumbled like a thunder.

 

'Sire' the mayor said 'All of us give him... food, every now and then... and... The old lady of the black stone house... I think he spends the nights there'.

 

The king walked to the far end of the village, but when he entered the black stone house he found the old lady dead in her straw bed. She was grasping something very tightly in her hands, and Hannibal opened them to find a golden locket with a lock of blond hair, which he reconized as his own.

 

Realizing who she was, the king knelt down to pray by her side, and he made sure that she was buried properly, far away from crossroads and under the shade of a peaceful acacia.

 

Hannibal returned to the village then, and he had the devious children gathered in the square. They all feared a punishment for throwing stones to Will, but they king gave them each a pouch of sweets.

 

'Eat as much as you want' he said 'And you'll never forget this day'.

 

The children couldn't believe the generosity of their good king, and they ate the sweets greedily. The candy seemed to regenerate during the night, because when they woke up the following day the pouch was full to the brim. Something strange happened, though, because as the devious children ate more and more sweets, a hairy black tail started to grow in their backside. They tried to hide it and make it disappear with remedies and prayers, but no matter how hard they tried, the black tail always grew back, and none indeed did ever forget they day when they had hurt a weak, helpless child.

 

\---

 

Inside the king's carriage, Will sat silent and scared. The castle was on the highest mountain of the kingdom, and as they approached it, Will asked:

 

'Are you going to eat me, sir?'

 

'My dear boy' Hannibal said taking his little hands in his 'I could never do that. I love children. Why do you ask?'

 

Will looked at his naked feet and wiggled his dirty toes.

 

'Mother Vulpina said that one day you killed an ogre. But that another lives inside you. _That one_ you never killed'.

 

Hannibal frowned at the words of the boy.

 

'Who is mother Vulpina? Your mother?'

 

'No' Will said shaking his head 'She lived in the black stone house. She let me sleep there at nights'.

 

The king said nothing, and spent the rest of the trip in silence. When they finally arrived to the castle, he ordered his servants to bathe and clean the boy. Hannibal prepared Will's dinner himself, and he smiled warmly as the boy ate with ravenous hunger.

 

'Thank you, sir' Will said as he finished 'Can I go to bed now?'

 

'Of course' Hannibal said calling a servant to accompany Will to his new room 'I hope you have good dreams'.

 

Will left the table, but he didn't follow the servant. He stood there, staring at the king with a strange look in his eyes.

 

'What is it, Will?' Hannibal asked.

 

'Why are you wearing Mother Vulpina's locket?'

 

Hannibal took his hand to his chest and caressed the golden locket.

 

'Because she looked after me when I was a boy like you'.

 

Will seemed to think about it for a moment.

 

'But the locket is hungry. Can't you hear it?'

 

The king frowned in surprise.

 

'Hungry? And what does a locket eat?'

 

'Well, hair!' Will said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

 

Hannibal pursed his lips in thought, then he took a knife from the table and cut a lock of Will's hair.

 

'There' he said putting it inside the locket 'Has it stopped screaming now?'

 

Will nodded, and with a little smile, he followed the servant to his bedroom.

 

\---

 

Hannibal grew fonder of Will with every passing day. He taught him to ride a little pony, and to feed the royal falcons with care and attention. Will loved to run about the castle, and he spent many hours getting to know its many rooms and towers. He also talked to the old ghosts and the suits of armour, but the king never shamed him for it. Actually, Will felt king Hannibal could hear them as well.

 

Hannibal hired the best tutors of the kingdom, who taught Will to read and write, and also music, mathematics and astronomy. Many days the king was busy with councillors and  meetings, but he always found time to spend in the company of Will, who told him fantastic tales of spirits and fairies. Hannibal always listened attentively, and smiled warmly when little Will pulled an evil face to imitate an ogre.

 

A full year passed, and in that time the king didn't wander through the villages at nights looking for fathers and mothers to kill. No feast with human flesh was celebrated in the castle, and no devious children were punished with cruel, unbreakable curses. The more Hannibal cared for Will, the more his subjects learned to love their children, and harmony thrived in the families of the kingdom.

 

On the morning of Will's tenth birthday, Hannibal gave him a little puppy named Winston as a present, and Will embraced the king tightly and whispered in his ear:

 

'The locket isn't hungry anymore. It says the ogre is dead'.

 

Hannibal nodded, and he kissed Will's forehead lovingly.

 

'Then I'll return it to Mother Vulpina'.

 

The king ordered the satbleman to saddle his fastest horse, and he rode to Mother Vulpina's tomb under the peaceful acacia. He opened the locket and blew Will's hair away, and when he buried it deep in the ground, Mother Vulpina sang:

 

'Feasty little feast

You put the life in your throne and you live'.

 

Hannibal returned to his castle, and he told his servants they were to prepare a great feast to celebrate Will's birthday. All the subjects of the kingdom were invited to the magnificent banquet, in which parents and children alike danced and rejoiced together. King Hannibal named Will his heir that day, and they lived in peace and happiness ever after.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking a few days off to recharge my evil batteries, guys. I'll be back soon with more kinky stuff ;)))


End file.
